No Cherry Blossoms for Wallabies in Cardiff Test of Spring Tour

Australia will play Test rugby in Wales this Sunday coming when the two sides meet in Cardiff as part of Australia’s spring tour.

This will be a tougher task than playing the Japanese is Yokohama was, but if fortune is on the side of the Wallabies, they will have halfback Will Genia at the ready.

Genia missed the game in Japan and is striving to be ready and fit for the game with Wales. Genia passed an intense fitness test during a morning practice session recently, but sat out another session in the afternoon due to an abundance of caution by the Wallabies.

Genia played for the Queensland Reds and will be with the Melbourne Rebels next season. It seems likely that Wallabies Coach Michael Cheika will name Genia to the side later in the week.

It seems as though Cheika will also stay with Samu Kerevi, rather than insert Karmichael Hunt, who like Genia, missed the game in Japan with a neck issue.

Hunt will be on the bench as an interchange and Kurtley Beale will be the fullback.

Hat-trick scorer against Japan, Tevita Kuridrani is eagerly anticipating a chance to form a centre partnership with Kerevi, as the two share Fijian connections.

Kuridrani told the Associated Press, “To see how he has developed into an international player, it was very great to play alongside him and hopefully we can get more games together and get the combination. If he needs anything in defence, that’s one area we’ve been working really hard on.For Samu, he’s very dangerous in attack and we’re trying to work on that as well to be a threat in the midfield.”

This will not be the Cherry Blossoms in Cardiff. The Welsh have one of the world’s best centres in Jonathan Davies and they also have a promising rookie in Owen Williams, who could make his international debut.